MADRID: Emergency crews in central Spain cleared 500 roads and rescued over 1,500 people stranded in their vehicles, allowing Madrid and other areas on Sunday to slowly shovel out of the country’s worst snowstorm in recent memory.

After recording 50 centimetres (20 inches) of snow in the Spanish capital between Friday night and Saturday, Madrid and a large swathe of the country remained impassable on Sunday, with roads, rail lines and air travel disrupted by Storm Filomena. The blizzard has been blamed for four deaths.

Transport Minister Jos Luis balos said by Sunday crews had cleared two runways at Madrid’s Adolfo Surez Madrid-Barajas International Airport and, weather permitting, service would slowly return sometime between Sunday evening and Monday.

Trains traversing the capital were to start gradually coming back online on Sunday afternoon, balos said, but the important high-speed line linking Madrid with Barcelona remained out of operation.

Over 150 roads were still impassable. Authorities said all trips by car should be postponed and tire chains were obligatory for journeys that could not be avoided. They said all people trapped in their cars by the snow had been rescued but hundreds of cars needed to be recovered after being abandoned by drivers. Storm Filomena has lost strength as it moved eastward but authorities are still urging people to remain at home to limit the risk of falls on icy streets as a cold front moves in.

The danger is not over, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Markaska said. A week of extreme cold is coming and that will transform all the snow on the ground in to ice, thereby multiplying the risk. The storm is bringing with it a cold wave that could push temperatures down to record levels.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2021